Release the hounds! One man's plan to rid Syracuse neighborhood of deer

John Berry/The Post-StandardDavid Kirby, a member of the Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association, is concerned about the impact of a growing deer population in the city has on neighborhood gardens.

Syracuse, NY – A predator ecologist says he has a practical solution to ridding Syracuse’s Meadowbrook neighborhood of deer: set the dogs on them.

“When you look at the urban-suburban deer, they’re in a landscape where they have no fear whatsoever,” said John W. Laundre, who specializes in predator ecology as a biology professor at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Neighbors of the Meadowbrook area complain that deer who find their habitat squeezed by the development of homes in formerly open areas of DeWitt are migrating into the city to feast on their gardens.See our earlier story.

The Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association has invited a state Department of Environmental Conservation representative to speak with them at 7 p.m. today in the Nottingham High School cafeteria.

Neighbors say the deer are bold and aren’t afraid of man nor beast.

The deer don’t see the neighborhood as a threat because the dogs there are on leashes, Laundre said. But, if neighbors allowed their dogs to freely roam in the yards, the deer would be scared away, he said.

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To test his theory, the scientist said he'd propose the neighborhood participate in an experiment.

A control group of homes would not make any changes to the way they handle their dogs or their yards.

Other owners would install underground electric fences, train their dogs not to cross the boundary, and allow the animals to roam freely in the yard at night, Laundre said. Any medium to large-sized dog would be enough to frighten the deer and keep them out of the yard, he said.

If his theory proves correct, the deer will stop bothering the gardens and they’ll migrate away, Laundre said.